Poor Box

: : Does anyone know what the origin of this phrase is - meaning on the sick?
: : Feel free to email me direct if you can shed any light on it. Great. Thanks.

: I believe this comes from the charitable work of Methodist Societies and early Trades Unions in the UK. The box was where they kept the money they doled out.

The Poor Box in which charitable donations were left in churches is a lot older than methodism. poor boxes were just another form of "alms" and collections for 'alms for the poor' (they were alm-less obviously) is a very old church tradition.